Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Washington State Patrol Declined to Affirm Suicide Verdict, Legal Document Indicates

A legal record obtained publically through the King County Superior Court indicates that the Washington State Patrol (WSP), in 1995, declined to affirm the Seattle Police Department’s determination that Kurt Cobain committed suicide.  The basis provided by the WSP for not affirming the suicide verdict is that the Patrol “lack[ed] sufficient information” to do so.

The decision by the Patrol to not affirm the SPD’s determination is notable in that it diverges from the SPD’s adamant and unequivocal position since 1994 that Mr. Cobain’s death was thoroughly investigated and accurately diagnosed as suicide.

The document in question is a formal legal pleading, called an “Answer,” that was submitted to the court as part of the WSP’s defense against Courtney Love’s 1995 lawsuit against the WSP.   That lawsuit sought to bar the Patrol from releasing the “suicide” note and a comparison letter, also known as the “Rome” note.

As required by court rules, the WSP document provides specific responses to each assertion, put forth as a “fact,” by the opposing party (Ms. Love).  The applicable assertion by Ms. Love, contained in paragraph number “2.10” of Ms. Love’s Petition for Permanent Injunction, is that the “SPD concluded its investigation, and confirmed Mr. Cobain took his own life.”

The WSP, pursuant to court rules, had the option of responding to this assertion by 1) admitting it was true; 2) denying that it was true; or 3) claiming, as the Patrol did, that it lacked sufficient information to form an opinion as to the truth of the claim that Mr. Cobain’s death was accurately classified as suicide.

Relevantly, at issue in the 1995 lawsuit against the WSP was the WSP’s interpretation of the “suicide” note, which, again, notably diverged from the SPD’s position with regard to the note.  As the legal document also indicates, the WSP declined to admit both that the greenhouse note found near Mr. Cobain’s body was “a personal letter to his family” or that the greenhouse note and comparison letter contained “deeply personal and intimate thoughts of Mr. Cobain directed principally to his spouse and daughter,” claiming again lack of sufficient information to do so. 

Importantly, but for the initiation of the lawsuit by Ms. Love, the Patrol was prepared to release both the “suicide” note and the comparison letter into the public domain.

The Cobain file published online by the Seattle Police Department in 2015 contains the legal pleadings and affidavits (AKA “declarations”) from Ms. Love’s legal team, but not the legal records submitted by the WSP in its defense, including the legal record at issue in this article.

Norm Stamper, the chief of the SPD at the time of Mr. Cobain’s passing, recently acknowledged that errors were made in the investigation into Mr. Cobain’s death and that, if chief again, he would reopen the case.  Chief Stamper noted in particular that the behavioral patterns of those with a motive to see Mr. Cobain dead should have been studied.

A 2014 review by the SPD of the 1994 investigation into Mr. Cobain’s death, however, reaffirmed the suicide verdict.  The full scope of that review, though, appears very limited and a number of its conclusions, arguably as a result of bias stemming from severe investigative errors committed during the 1994 investigation, appear forensically unsound. 

34 comments:

  1. I wonder if WSP still has a copy of the Rome note, then.

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  2. Here's more reason, to re- open the case. Kurt Cobain deserves justice, like any ordinary person.

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  3. What the hell is it going to take to shake the corruption out of this tree called the SPD? Whoever is holding this evidence back, or whoever is forcing the SPD to do so, is guilty of a criminal offense. I have my suspicions about who that may be. It's time for the tree to fall, if you know what I mean.

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  4. If the WSP had known and got to see the note that Det.Cameron told CL to burn..the one where KC told her he wanted a divorce..there would have been an actual investigation and justice would have been served..the only ones that saw that note was CL & Det.Cameron. I don't understand how some people can't see how he was murdered and the whole thing was covered up.. all for money & another thing that just blows my mind is that they haven't put together the fact that CL lost millions of Kurt's dollars and the way the case was handled..she didn't loose the money and it wasn't stole it went to pay off all the ppl involved. There's a lot of ppl that know the REAL truth & they are starting to talk. It's not goin to be too long til it all comes out.

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    1. The WSP did see the Rome note. That was the note they used to compare the handwriting.

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    2. Yes, Frank, you are correct.

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    3. I do want to see the case reopen & get a proper unbiased investigation. However it's been over a couple years since this brush fire started with no responses except for photos of the famous detective Ciesynski holding the shotgun. All in attempt to discredit anyone or anything. I do not believe this case will ever get reopened. The SPD will just ignore & ignore anyone & everything regarding the Cobain case until the wave stops.

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    4. They should have used a note that was proven to be written by Cobain...not the so called "rome note"

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  5. I know this is old and I don't know if you are still checking this but could the WSP's decision to not confirm the suicide verdict come from their refusal to process the gun? I can see from the police report that the SPD asked them to process the gun but they refused to because the SPD previously used Rhodamine 6G to process it previously and they refuse to work with the chemical as it's carcinogenic.

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    1. The gun also had dried blood that rusted over time in the barrel and through the slots in the compensator, which may not have been visible at first to the police, but the current photos of the gun show and awful lot of "blood rust." A lot of people that buy wartime weapons enounter this phenomenon in which a spot of gunmetal that came in contact with blood will rust over time as the iron oxidizes slowly. There's a lot of evidence on that gun, even after it was successfully test fired. You can even see the spot on the barrel where the wound on his thumb was in contact.

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  6. People around the world are signing this petition to reopen the case. Kurt deserves justice. Please sign.

    https://www.change.org/p/we-demand-that-the-seattle-police-department-opened-a-case-kurt-cobain

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  7. What about his right leg in the crime scene photos it looks like it has been crushed just below the knee is this just the camera angle that makes it appear that way?

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  8. How many petition signatures does a petition need to reopen a case? Does it matter or no?

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  9. Didn't Kurt's Father, Don Cobain work for the Washington State Patrol (WSP) at one time? I read it in a few places within the last year, which is,also quite odd, because previously it was always said (in books, etc) that he had worked as a mechanic at Chevron and a lumber mill. Why is this now just coming out....and if he did, wouldn't he have some type of pull in getting these things released??

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    1. He did work for the WSP as Commercial Vehicle Inspector. D.O.T. truck inspector. He worked at the truck weigh station on I-5 in Bellingham, WA and also did mobile inspections. I am a trucker...

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  10. I have followed case with a so called fine tooth comb. He was murdered. No doubt. I know my God put me on the Kurt case to prove he didn't want to take his life. I signed petition and I pray that the case will be re opened. I'm 62 years old. I have the wisdom and years of experience to know it was murder. No question about it. Re open case and sign petition.

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  11. I grew up in the 90s and i've been following this case, There is no way in this earth that Courtney didn't have a part to play in it, she instigated the whole thing! Maybe El Duce was asked to do it, although he for sure didn't do it as he passed the polygraph and ended up dead after revealing the name! Something has to be done to stop Courtney, Kurt deserves justice now the same way as he as done for so many years, Not wait till someone who was involved in the cover-up to squeal cause she miraculously ends up running out of money, or that the MURDERERS are dead cause then then Kurt will never get Justice! This case needs to be reopened and Kurt deserves justice as well as Frances because Frances is really only going by what she's been told, she needs to know the truth!

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  12. Pleased everyone sign and then share this petition. I also donated $5 so it get's spread further. A most loving man got killed and the murderer got away with an unbelievable amount of money! We must help Kurt! <3

    https://www.change.org/p/the-official-petition-seattle-pd-reopen-kurt-cobain-s-case

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    1. This was posted by me. I accidentally hit anonymous. I'm not ashamed of my opinion!

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  13. thing is, CL provided the Rome note 'excelsior' (Excelsior Hotel where they stayed in Rome which was written it was on the hotel's stationary), this was THE handwriting sample they used to compare the final letter on 4/8/94 and proved it was his. BOTH came directly from CL and everyone just took her word for it that the Rome note was a 'suicide' note and in his writing. It seems like they could have used his writing from other sources in addition to all coming from her. How do we know she didn't just write both making it look like the Rome (excelsior) note was a 'bad look' for her re: divorce etc. Wouldn't that make it much more believable? Its just absurdity. Also if you read the letter in the death investigation from Cameron he took the original Rome note (with the 'suicide" note from 4/8/94) and sent them to the handwriting expert who returned it to Det Cameron which he returned the originals to CL, and promised no one would make any copies and didn't, so the Rome note (nor the original 'suicide' note from 4/8/94) are in the evidence file or death investigation file. Then later Det Cameron says someone over in handwriting at the crime lab made a copy of it and that's when all this started with CL filing injunctions etc - but I'm not sure if that 'copy' is still around or who made the copy or what they did with it. Again, another snafu and mystery

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  14. the coroner had to pry his fingers off the rifle after death .so this no fingerprints bull ...stop.he was addicted to heroin dissalutioned with the fame it was all too much he selfishly took his life .stop blaming courtney his demons won.RIP KURT rock forever

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    1. False. They found him in putrefaction plus skin slippage. A cadaveric spasm is extremely rare and not only that, it completely disappears with rigor mortis. It is scientifically impossible for them to have been gripped anything by the time they found him.
      If everything was on the up and up, why were they lying?

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    2. Reopen this case wrf is wrong with you people. This man deserves justice wtf

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  15. The LAST people in the world to Re Open the Kurt Cobain Case is the Seattle Police Department. The LAST person to ask what happened is Courtney love UNLESS she is in Court under Oath to testify. A blind man can see this with a stick. Charlie Manson never got caught killing either. The only difference is he was a man that started a cult that killed for no reason except to start a War. There are other motives, such as a potential BILLION dollars that you are getting cut off from in a Will, Pre Nuptial and a Divorce. That would REALLY leave a big Hole!

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  16. The Isaiah Silva vs Courtney Love et al Case Filed in LA County on May 25 2018 was enlightening how things work when Love wants Kurt's guitar gifted to him by his ex wife Frances Bean Cobain as a gift, when Love wants it back she sends her "Rottweiler(s)."

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  17. "You Know You're Right" If you want to get away with murder kill a junkie. A BILLION dollars in Nirvana money covered it all up and we will all be dead of natural and/or unnatural causes stupidly believing Justice prevails. OK, There's a mighty Judgment coming.

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  18. This is directed at Kurt Fraser: I have a Web Log here on Blogger https://dannymreed.blogspot.com and would like your permission to re-publish some of your material and Comment on it further as part of Creative Commons. Are you still alive within past two years?

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  19. i can hear some skeletons rattling all tyhe way here in nyc..

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  20. The gun and shell/bullet had no prints. The casing was found on the wrong side of the body. What more proof is needed to reopen the case?

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